Daniel 6:1-11

1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty governors who should be in all the kingdom;

2 and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the governors might give accounts unto them, and the king should not be bothered.

3 Then this Daniel was preferred above these governors and presidents because an overabundance of the Spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole kingdom.

4 Then the presidents and governors looked for occasions against Daniel on behalf of the kingdom, but they could find no occasion or fault because he was faithful, and no vice nor fault was found in him.

5 Then these men said, We shall never find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him in the law of his God.

6 Then these governors and presidents assembled together before the king and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.

7 All the presidents of the kingdom, magistrates, governors, great ones, and captains have agreed in common accord to promote a royal decree and to confirm it that whoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

8 Now, O king, confirm the decree and sign the writing that it not be moved, according to the law of Media and of Persia, which does not change.

9 Therefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree.

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he entered into his house; and with the windows open toward Jerusalem in his dining chamber, he knelt three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he was used to doing before.

11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

Daniel 6:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 6

This chapter gives an account of Daniel's being cast into the den of lions, and the causes of it, and the steps leading to it; and also of his wonderful deliverance out of it, and what followed upon that. It first relates how Daniel was made by Darius first president of the princes of the kingdom, which drew their envy upon him, Da 6:1-4, and that these princes finding they could get no occasion against him, but in religion, proposed to the king to make a law forbidding prayer to any god for thirty days, which they got established, Da 6:5-9, and Daniel breaking this law, is accused by them to the king; and the penalty, casting into the den of lions, is insisted on to be executed, Da 6:10-13, which the king laboured to prevent, but in vain; and Daniel is cast to the lions, to the great grief of the king, Da 6:14-18, who visited the den the next morning, and to his great joy found Daniel alive, Da 6:19-23, upon which, by the law of retaliation, his accusers, their wives, and children, were cast into it, Da 6:24, and an edict was published by the king, commanding all in his dominions to fear and reverence the God of Daniel, Da 6:25-28.